[So, what are we going to do anyway? I still have no idea about the details of this development plan.]
Before I knew it, the entire beastkin village had gathered around us for a banquet. Though the atmosphere had turned laid back for now. I may have said banquet, but the only one who drank alcohol was――
[Nfuu―…..]
――now sleeping soundly with a bottle of liquor still in her hand. It's none other than the rotten elf.
Let's just ignore her for the time being. Turning to Marl and Kusuha, the latter responded to my question.
[It's a place southwest from our village. An undead――or rather, a skeleton den. It's a fairly large, open space. The only real problem is that the skeletons would rush en-masse if someone approached there. But it's still a good place, provided you could get rid of those skeletons.]
[Apparently because of the skeletons, there are neither intelligent creatures nor normal living monsters living near that place.]
[Just what kind of place is that, and in the middle of the forest too…?]
[I do not know. That place was already there when we moved into the forest.]
I couldn't help but to tilt my head after hearing Kusuha's explanation. I don't know when Kusuha first entered the forest, but it's certainly not within the last few decades.
Fram raised her hand rather timidly. She only started to speak when I turned to her, probably seeing my gesture as me giving her permission to speak.
[I'm not really sure about it, but those skeletons are probably what became of the conquest knights sent by Karendil Kingdom to cultivate the forest.]
Now that she mentioned it, I did have a hazy memory about that. Probably from a snippet I read in a book when I was studying at the Alfen Magic Academy's library with Marl.
They sent a huge army to cultivate the Sea of Trees, but the effort never bore any fruit and most of the army never returned either. How many years ago was that again?
[I do not remember the exact number, but I suppose it was about 300 years ago. Less than 10% of more than 5000 soldiers and hundreds of adventurers managed to return home.]
Tina added to Fram's story. I wonder what caused those 5000 to perish inside this forest. I'm not all that excited about it. I only felt terribly bad vibes.
In any case, I still needed to open up a road and head to that place soon.
=====
After sending Kusuha back to the Arachnean village, I transferred the rest of us back to my mansion on Alfen. Tina said that she wanted to visit the mansion, and I needed to make preparations.
[Taichi-san, are you going to go alone again?]
Marl asked as she helped me put on the dragon leather armor that was crafted by Peron-san the other day. Tina was touring around the mansion with Fram as her guide.
[Umu. I mean, it's more convenient for me to fight that many skeletons alone. If it gets too messy, I could just Maximum Explosion them all to kingdom come.]
[Do not get too cocky, alright? Taichi-san is strong, but you are not completely invincible.]
[Nn… un, you're right. I'll keep that in mind.]
I obediently nodded my head after seeing Marl's serious expression.
I can't deny that I got a little cocky. Skeletons are pretty much like the smallest fish in the pond for a fishing competition. Considering my own abilities, no amount of small fishes, no matter how many they are, would be able to match up to me. Mostly because my multi target skills far outstripped my single target ones.
Because I thought that I could just blow them all to smithereens with powerful long range magic, I felt like the fight would lack tension.
[But there are many things I wanna try…]
Although it appeared that I was messing around freely, in honesty I'd been running around dealing with various things that I had no time to verify and study my own skills.
I also wanted to test out the new equipment I made during the little spare time I had. This new equipment may not be something elaborate, but I still want to try it out.
[Please do things in moderation.]
[Aye-aye, ma'am.]
I straightened my posture and replied. Marl in return gave me a small punch to my dragon leather armor protected chest while smiling bitterly.
=====
A sword flash approached.
It was an attack done with a murderous intent to take my life, but I immediately parried it with my bare hand laced in magic power. I counter attacked soon after, aiming at the sternum area―― where the heart should be.
Just like when I attempted a chop with my magic-laced hand before this, my fist turned the fleshless bone into fine dust.
[Uーn, I guess this is more like it.]
Skeletons jumped at me from all sides, wielding sword, spear, ax, even going as far as using their bare hands or teeth.
These were Skeletons.
In this world, there's this kind of near immortal monsters called the undead. They're originally abandoned corpses infused with grudges and magic power.
The skeletons, however, were formed from a stronger grudge than say, a zombie. They are more efficient in terms of combat and could even wield weapons or cast magic.
Apparently they are included in the list of 'more troublesome monsters to beat in this world'. Certainly, they could regenerate or reattach broken bones back, so normal attacks wouldn't work on them. That's probably why it's difficult for most to defeat them.
[Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!]
But for me, someone with abundant magic power reserves and high magic output, they were nothing but small fry.
Whether it's an elbow, kick, knee kick, palm strike, hand chop, they would turn any of these skeletons to fine dust as I spun around in one leg. Even if these small enemies didn't stand a chance against the fist of the blue sky from this saviour from the end of the century, it's still a lot of work.
Eh? Couldn't I just blow them away with magic without having to force myself into close quarter combat?
Yes, I could, but I want to try out various things while I'm at this. I rarely had a chance to fight barehanded recently, and there are equipment I'd like to test.
This isn't being cocky, it's for research. It's something important.
[Uーn, they are indeed them. It's confirmed.]
I soliloquy after checking the shield I stole from one of the skeletons.
The shield bore the crest of the Karendil Royal Family. This said skeleton also wore a beat up armor, which I managed to salvage. It was attacking me with its bare hand, so it probably lost its sword somewhere. Who knows if that missing sword was probably a well known prized treasure? How unfortunate.
Most likely, it's just as Fram guessed, that these skeletons were what became of the conquest army that Karendil Kingdom sent here.
The result was as you could see.
Many of those knights and soldiers never returned, trapped inside this forest for 300 years. Thank you, sirs, it's been really hard on all of you to serve the kingdom.
[Summer grass, are these the traces of these soldiers' dreams? Bless you, bless you.]
While saying so, I continued turning the skeletons into fine dust left and right. Will I be punished for this? No no, I'm just sending these wandering ghosts back to the afterlife. Un, that's what I'm doing.
No worries, I will make a good use of the equipment you all left behind in this world, so ascend to heaven peacefully. Now that I think about it, even the old and unusable weapons could still be smelted into ingots.
What a heretic.
But after 300 years, would there be anyone alive that could recognize these equipment?
[Nn?]
I jumped out on the spot when the danger detection alarm suddenly rang in my head.
Then at the next moment, a pinkish long object pierced the spot where I was originally in. the tip was sharp like a stake, but the rest of the object wriggled and tossed around elastically. That's right.
It's that thing. The indispensable part of fantasy porn that was capable of entangling, tightening, going in and out, humiliating its poor victim.
[I didn't ask for tentacle play!]
Tentacles and skeletons attacked me one after another.
The tentacles attack indiscriminately, smashing and plowing through the skeletons in their way. But ah, those skeletons could just rise back up since they're undead.
On the other hand, the tentacles attacked me with increasingly accurate attacks. Sometimes some even seemingly attack the ground just to block my path of escape.
[Magic Detonation!]
I compressed magic power inside my body and detonated it outward, creating a shockwave that swept through the skeletons and tentacles around me.
This was indeed really useful in crowded situations. The power is pretty big for it's low cost. One of its weaknesses is that I couldn't use it in a situation where my allies have clashed with the enemies in close quarter combat.
[Chi!]
The skeletons were blown to dust. The tentacles on the other hand somehow not only managed to tank the explosion, but also only paused for a short moment before resuming their assault. Rather, they became even more aggressive and increasing in number. It's like fighting a wall now.
The danger detection continued to ring inside my head. I hurriedly jumped away with all my might.
My current AGI is 1500. Regular people could even reach beyond double digits, and high ranked adventurers of this world tops around 400.
What I was trying to say is, despite me jumping up, it already felt like I was doing a reverse bungee jumping.
[Ugee, they're still coming at me]
Zozozozo, they stretched into the air while making horrible sounding noises. Don't tell me they're going to catch me and do all kinds of horrible things!? Like in those ero doujinshis!
Seriously, please stop! I mean, nobody is going to
『Tentacle play, it's the tentacle play!』
[Shut up will you, I'm about to die here!? You haven't appeared in a while and that's your first remark upon popping out!?]
『●ＲＥＣ』
[S C R E E E E E W Y O O O O U U U U ! ! ! ]
All of a sudden, I started flinging wind magic around while shouting from the bottom of my heart at the unnamed existence. Seriously, screw you.
Meanwhile the tentacles continued to relentlessly chase me. It only grew in number.
『Ei Eーi. pitcher is losing his gutsー』
[Am not!]
I took out a small metal rod from the holder on my belt while shouting back at the shapeless voice. The metal rod, or stake if you may, was 25mm in diameter and 100mm in length――roughly the same size as two C batteries stacked together.
It was made from the heavy and magic resistant black iron. I spun my body around and threw it with all my might.
[There!]
Bang! It launched while making a sound that shouldn't be possible from a hand throw as it broke through the air, pulverizing the tentacles that came in contact with it. How fast was that? I couldn't tell because there's no speedometer here.
『It really flew fast.』
[That's probably as strong as an anti-material gun, no, probably closer to a tank's main gun]
Not to mention those that came in contact with the metal rod, those around the trajectory were also pushed back. It's probably due to the shockwave generated from it breaking the sound barrier.
[Let's chase!]
I launched a series of light bullets from the level 4 pure magic at the retreating tentacles which seemed to be frightened by the blow from the black iron rod. Excellent explosive power, great destructive power upon impact, and rapid fire. Perfect for saturation attack against this kind of squid.
When a certain vegetable prince did this maneuver, suffice to say it didn't end well for him. I was attempting to reproduce the scene in real life, but I guess this『Surface control + Saturation Attack』was more effective than I thought.
[TL note: I think he's referring to Vegeta from the Dragonball series]
『Did you get it!?』
[Oi, do you have to set up the death flag like that!?]
Dust cloud rose up from the numerous light bullets I sent out. But the danger detection alarm warned me that something is coming from directly under me, so I hurriedly shifted away from that spot.
One beat later, a purple beam shot out from within the dust cloud, sweeping through the spot I was in. The cloud that the beam passed through split in half and dispersed.
[Oi oi…. Don't tell me it's making it even easier for me to deal with the skeletons?]
I could hear a strangely unpleasant moist sound leaking from the opening, as well as the noise of bones getting crushed. Those bone crushing sounds might be coming from the skeletons getting destroyed.
I took a good look at the tentacles emerging from within the dust cloud.
=====
Name: Incarnated Collective Will
Level: 76
Skill: Predatory Absorption (Magic Power), Predatory Absorption (Soul), Magic Eye Destructive Ray (Darkness), Self Regeneration
Title: Beyond God's control, Gluttony, Demon King, Agent of God's Will
Crime: none
=====
[This fellow is definitely a code red!]
『I know right? That thing, It will consume magic power and souls on its surrounding once it wakes up to grow endlessly. That's why it was saved for the preliminary plan』
[What do you mean by a preliminary plan? And did you say it can grow endlessly?]
『Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with the great flooding?』
While listening to the unknown voice, I took out the godsilver staff from my inventory and casted maximum explosion repeatedly.
I rarely used the godsilver staff up until now, it's because I only realized recently that it's best used for casting magic.
Since the amount of godsilver ore I used to craft this staff was greater than the bonded sword, it could handle larger amounts of magic――it also made it easier to fine control it too.
Maximum explosions disappeared into the dust cloud. After a short while, apparently hitting something, they exploded at the same time. The shockwave was strong enough to disperse the dust cloud.
[Even that doesn't work?]
『A hint: Predatory Absorption（Magic Power）』
[Fuck!]
Pure Magic is, as the name implies, offensive magic using purely magic power. Although I'm not really familiar with the theory behind it despite using it extensively, pure magic is placed higher in rank than all the elemental magics due to its power and versatility.
In particular, an opponent who had resistance to it was very rare. Not to mention its great power and ease of control. So that's about right.
[And something disgusting come out.]
『That's the main body. Well then, do your best, alright?』
What became visible after the dust cloud disappeared was something so disgusting that my SAN point might've received a critical hit.
It looks like a wrinkled pink flesh that is reminiscent of the brain, and its size was … maybe a little bigger than a three-story private house?
Something like a human face emerged and disappeared in many spots in its body, and a huge eyeball was attached near the center. I couldn't feel any shred of emotion coming from it, and the eyeball was looking toward me.
Tentacles grew from the lump of meat with unpleasant sound, and an eyeball similar to that on the center of its body appeared on the tips.
[Don't tell me, it's going to do a full burst!?]
『Ｙｅｓ! Ｙｅｓ! Ｙｅｓ! Ｙｅｓ! Ｙｅｓ!』
「Ｙｅｓ! Ｙｅｓ! My arse! Just go die!」
While throwing curses at the voice who claimed to be God, I started moving according to my danger detection.
It was an enveloping attack.
The purple beam from earlier was shot repeatedly and indiscriminately in all directions, as if paying back what I just did to it earlier――but none managed to hit me.
[It's easy to avoid since I can see the build up.]
『Using transfer magic to dodge that is like cheating!』
The voice was being noisy again. But I don't care about cheating in real fights. As long as I win. If Pure Magic doesn't work, how about elemental magics?
[Burial Fang!]
[Collapsing Frozen Tomb!]
[Roaring Flame of Purgatory!]
[Spiraling Wind Funeral!]
Thus I consecutively casted the strongest magic from each element.
Innumerable earthen spears-or rather thick, hard, earthen tusks rose from the ground and clump on the lump of meat as if to chew it. It causes dents in various spots, but it didn't seem to be that big of a damage since that lump of meat is also quite springy to begin with.
Next up, a huge water ball exploded on top of the lump of meat, instantly freezing parts of it, which soon shattered automatically. This seemed to work pretty well.
Afterward, a fireball made its landing, erupting in a huge explosion followed by a searing heat wave. A painful moan could be heard among the sound of explosion, and I could see the flesh was charred and some parts continued to burn, so it's probably working pretty well.
Then lastly, the spiraling wind scraped off parts of the lump of meat into miniscule pieces. This seemed to work the best.
By the way I didn't come up with those names. I learned the magic's name automatically upon skill acquisition. It gave me a chuunibyou-like feeling from having to shout them out loud, which was crazy.
『I had a hard time thinking up those names. Cool, aren't they?』
I could almost see a smug face in my mind as the voice said that. Doesn't matter, but could you please make it shorter? I almost tangled my tongue saying all those names.
Anyways, that's what happened to the lump of meat.
[Looks like the absorption only works on Pure Magic.]
As before, it retaliated back by shooting purple beams from its eyes. But the attack was no longer dense enough to be called a barrage. The number of tentacles had been decreased considerably by the previous volley of magics, and it didn't attack as violently as when I attacked it with pure magic.
Most likely, unlike pure magic, it cannot absorb elemental magics. But Earth Magic seems to be ineffective against it.
『CQC, go for CQC!』
Are you a fool, doing that will inevitably end with tentacle rape.
『I'd love to see it. Better yet if you add feminine sounding moans on top of it.』
This voice belonged to an evil god for sure.
Anyways, should we test how effective physical attacks are? I took out another black iron rod from my belt. By the way, these rods were made by dismantling the black iron equipment that belonged to some orcs I encountered the other day.
Black Iron had good magic resistance, so it makes for a good warrior's armor and even weapons. Weapons made from this material are easily some of the best mage killers as they can easily go through magic protections. But since it's heavy, it's usually reserved for the so-called muscle brains.
Personally I don't use it much since it doesn't go well with my style of mostly using magic to attack.
[Fuhn!]
The black iron rod sent with my full power broke the sound barrier again and pierced the lump of meat while letting out a piercing noise. The resulting hole was pretty huge.
In any case, the lump of meat, now with a fairly large hole on its body, moaned as if in pain. It seemed to be working pretty well.
[Uーn, perhaps I can beat it just by throwing the iron rod endlessly at it.]
『For realー? I think I designed it to be fairly resistant to physical attacks too?』
It's common sense in this world that most people raise their level to gain superhuman physical might.
This evil god, knowing that, he designed this creature that way and still suggested that I go for close combat.
『Tentacle play, tentacle play!』
Just die already!
=====
[How about this?]
『I think you overdid it.』
After getting rid of the lump of meat with various kinds of ranged attacks, I stirred the surrounding land with large-scale earth magic, then thoroughly purified it with my newly obtained Light magic.
The skeleton-filled cursed land now turned into a land with divine air much like that of a first class holy sanctuary.
[Now that I think about it, maybe I should've tried using Light magic on that lump of meat, right?]
『Un, the fight would've probably ended sooner.』
Oi, you could've told me that earlier.
『I thought it was going to end up in a bondage type of play, ahaha.』
This voice made me grit my back teeth furiously, good grief.
『Ee? Did you want to have something shoved into your ass? I want to refrain from such a hardcore play though』
Shut the hell up! If you talk even one more sentence, dieee!
『Ahahaha, see you laterー』
I could feel that the voice had left my mind. But who knows if it truly left.
Anyways, why don't we sort out the situation first?
Firstly, there was this vast land below that gives off a divine atmosphere. It has been leveled properly, so it'll be possible to start building houses and farming lands on it immediately. About the size… it's probably as wide as Crossroad town give or take.
For the time being, securing land is a major success. All the better if I set up a barrier later on, but that's a piece of cake.
Next, my current status.
No physical injuries, and I still had around 30% magic power left. I'm recovering steadily, but in case of emergencies, I could just use the recovery potions that Marl concocted. So it's still manageable.
The black iron rods had been completely used up, which meant I needed to craft some more. I realized that the shape did not matter much with my current capabilities. In fact, round shape would probably do me better.
The newly acquired magic was the Light magic. I raised it to max level as well.
At level 1 I learned Luminous Light and Light Arrow. At level 2, I got Light Granting and Diffused Light Bullet. Level 3 gave me Light Shield and Light Spear. Level 4 provided Holy Light and Light Beam. Lastly, level 5 granted me with Holy Spear of the Sun and Holy Light Waves.
Luminous Light works similarly to the Life Magic that conjures up a lighting, but in addition to that, it also has an effect of repelling monsters and undeads. It's almost like the upgraded version of the Life Magic variant.
Light Arrow had a high rate of fire and penetration, but otherwise it's just another type of magic arrow. It's also particularly more effective against undeads and demons.
Light Granting imbued weapon and armor with Light element to improve their power. It's like giving an otherwise physical only warrior access to magic attack and protection. And it's also very effective against undead and demons.
Diffused Light Bullets had short range and low penetration in exchange for highly destructive power. It seems to be tailored for close range combat.
The Light Shield conjured up a barrier that follows you around. The pure magic barrier is mostly stationary, so it's also like an upgraded form of that.
Light Spear allows you to make any form of weapon with light. You can make not only spear with this magic despite the name, but it's useless for me who has access to inventory.
Holy Light created a dazzling sphere of light with a powerful purifying effect. I used this magic to purify this land. Apparently, low level undead like the skeleton would simply turn to dust from being exposed to this magic. It's as that evil god said.
Holy Light does no damage except to undeads and demons, so there's no worries about causing a friendly fire.
Light Beam is pretty much the light magic version of the pure magic's laser. It does have higher penetrating power at the cost of slightly narrower attack range.
Holy Spear of the Sun was basically a satellite laser. A thick beam of light poured down from the sky to bombard a wide area. However, it seems to be only usable during the day.
Holy Light Wave was a buff type of magic that strengthened one's physical prowess by draping their body with Light element. Buff magic that improved physical strength is common in games, but this one was the first I've seen in this world. Well, you could actually do something similar with Magecraft.
However, this one offered a much bigger bonus, but would continuously drain your magic power overtime. Energy efficiency-wise, it cannot be said to be good. Personally I don't see much value in it. I still prefer using magecraft.
[Un, yosh.]
I tried each magic to get a good feel on all of them. I guess my impression of light magics is that they are simple and easy to use.
However, it's lacking explosiveness. I mean, magic should go KABOOM in the most awesome way. This one simply lacks that part. Pure magic still suits my taste the most.
Eh? The loot from that lump of meat? It dropped a pretty ridiculous orb behind. This orb actually carried a much stronger power than the serpent dragon's eye that the Yamata no Orochi dropped.
Wonder what I should use it for? Well, I want nothing out of the pieces of meat that lump of meat left behind, as the appraisal result said that it will invade and take over your body and soul if eaten.
That being said, I don't want this place to be inhabited by strange things like that again. So I put up an anti-demon barrier. It's a simple task of tossing a mithril blade from the sky.
But when I was done with that, the sun was almost set.
I'd spent quite a long time here. Just as I thought to return back to my mansion on Alfen,
[Nn?]
I think I saw the ground rising at the corner of my eyes.
When I carefully observed the ground again, I found out that it's really rising. What's going on here?
As I watched it carefully, the piece of earth was raised almost soundlessly, revealing a hole large enough for one person to get in. A black creature popped out from the hole.
Its four arms carried a spade-like tool. It has compound eyes, a tough looking jaws, and fluttery black antennae.
That's right. It's something familiar I've seen before in my previous world. Seeing this, I couldn't help but to shout.
[It's an antー!!]
『Pyaaaaaa!?』
The human sized ant tried to hide in a hurry after being surprised by my shouting… but I pulled it out from the hole with jaw dropping speed.
This ant, it was obviously screaming earlier. Moreover, it's the high pitched voice reminiscent of a girl's. A big ant who spoke with the voice of a young girl? But of course, even for me, ants were way outside my strike zone.